CITY of Rockingham Mayor Barry Sammels and chief executive Michael Parker are attending the 2019 Smart City Summit and Expo (SCSE) in Taipei, Taiwan.
Cr Sammels and Mr Parker are participating in five days of conferences and exhibitions regarding global best practice in smart city technology.
Together with other mayors and chief executives from the South West Group, of which Cr Sammels is the chairman, they are attending SCSE to gain exposure to new developments and strategic possibilities in e-governance, sustainable cities, harnessing the 5G network and a wide range of other topics related to the application of new technology to servicing the community.
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“As the internet, and the abundance of devices connected to it, continues to grow, opportunities exist for innovations in the way local governments do business,” Cr Sammels said.
With more than 150 mayors expected to join in the 2019 SCSE, a feature of the event is the Smart City Mayors’ Summit, a high-level dialogue platform for city leaders from around the world.
“To ensure the City is well placed to capitalise on new technology we need to understand its strategic application to local government,” Cr Sammels said.
“The opportunity to meet with other mayors and chief executives to discuss how to take best advantage of this critically important aspect of the City’s development is invaluable.”
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Mr Parker said the City’s primary interest in the SCSE was not so much the technologies themselves, but the underlying strategies being developed to make use of those new technologies to streamline and improve service delivery.
“Attending the SCSE gives us the opportunity to meet with innovators in this area and learn firsthand how to leverage the huge potential of new and emerging technologies to meet the challenges facing a local government in a rapidly growing community,” he said.
Both Cr Sammels and Mr Parker are being sponsored by the South West Group, with assistance from Austrade, so their attendance is at minimal cost to the City of Rockingham.